RACING ADVENTURERS. 243 



in a flourishing condition in the North, where the 

 training stables were crowded with famous horses, 

 the riders of which had earned reputations on 

 the turf. Ridsdale was fortunate, as the saying 

 goes, to get into many of the " good things " 

 of those days, and, judging by the fine establish- 

 ment he was speedily enabled to set up in the 

 neighbourhood of York, he must, almost at the 

 outset of his turf career, have discovered a way 

 of "making" large sums of money. Among his 

 patrons was the Honourable Edward Petre, who 

 for some years, " in the days when George the 

 Fourth was king," enjoyed the favours of fortune 

 on the racecourse, having won the St. Leger on 

 four different occasions, three of his wins being in 

 consecutive years. 



John Gully was a racing man of great 

 notoriety, and became a Member of Parliament. 

 In his earlier years he is known to have played 

 the parts of butcher, prize-fighter, publican, hell- 

 keeper, and bookmaker, carrying on at one time 

 a gigantic business in the latter capacity. Gully 

 was a pugilist in those days when boxing was 

 most thought of, and when fighting men were 

 patronised by persons of honour and respecta- 

 bility. As a boxer, Gully was a man of indomit- 

 able courage, as plucky in the roped arena as his 

 partner Ridsdale was in the hunting-field. It was 

 while carrying on business as a publican that 

 Gully saw his way to fortune in the betting 

 ring ; like some other shrewd persons, he early 

 discovered that "backing" horses was an un- 

 profitable avocation, having come to the con- 

 clusion that the chief gains of the turf remained 

 in the hands of the men who laid the odds. 



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